Bangladeshi girl rescued from brothel, two pimps held

TNN | Updated: Dec 3, 2018, 9:04 IST

Representative image

PUNE: The Faraskhana police have rescued a 16-year-old girl from a brothel in the red light area of Budhwar Peth. The girl is orioginally from Bangladesh and was rescued on November 26. The two brothel keepers — Sanjana Biren Panikar (24) and Jatratul Roy (22), — were arrested on Saturday for allegedly forcing the girl into flesh trade. Both are residents of Wakad, police said. Faraskhana police station senior inspector Kishor Navande, inspector Sambhaji Shirke, assistant inspector Sunil Gavali, sub-inspector Varsha Shinde and others were patrolling the area when they spotted a girl roaming around in the lanes. The team decided to check on the girl and took her to the police station. As the girl didn’t know Marathi or Hindi, it was difficult for the policemen to understand what she was saying. The police said they had taken the help of a translator to understand what the girl wanted to say. Answering the policemen’s questions, the girl said that she was living in fear and was hiding from the brothel keepers. The girl told them that a man based in Bangladesh’s Jessore town, located along the India-Bangladesh border, got her to Pune by promising to get her a job of a domestic help. The police said the girl belongs to a very poor family. The suspect brought her to Pune by train around two months ago. The girl, after being forced into flesh trade, made repeated requests to the two brothel keepers that she wanted to go back to Bangladesh. The two suspects kept her in confinement in Wakad. They recently shifted her to a brothel in Budhwar Peth. The girl narrated her plight to the police in detail, following which they arrested the two suspects. The police are investigating the case.

A police officer said, “The girl wishes to return to her native village.” The police said they would send a letter to the Bangladesh embassy regarding the same.